An exceptional film event took place at the 61st Zlín Film Festival. Part of its online spring section was the awarding of ECFA (European Children's Film Association) awards to the best European children's films: short film, documentary, and live-acted feature film. "This ceremony takes place every year during the February Berlinale. Due to the pandemic situation, the venue was changed this year and for the first time everything happened online from the Zlín Film Festival studio, which was built for the extraordinary first part of the Zlín Film Festival,“ said the ZFF artistic director Markéta Pášmová.
The ECFA Grand Prize is the only European award for children's film given by film professionals. All 150 members of the association decide on the winners. This year's award went to the following films:
The ECFA Award for Best Short Film:
Matilda and the Spare Head (LIT, 2020, Ignas Meilūnas)
The ECFA Award for Best Documentary Film:
Forward (Demain est à nous, FRA, 2019, Gilles de Maistre)
The film also won the ECFA Doc Award at the 60th Zlín Film Festival in 2020
The ECFA Award for Best Children's Film:
Marona´s Fantastic Tale (FRA/ROM/ BEL, 2019, Anca Damian)
ECFA
Founded in 1988, the European Children's Film Association (ECFA) is an organization for all those interested in quality films for children and young people: filmmakers, producers, distributors, television playwrights, festival organizers, and film educators. The ECFA has almost 150 members from companies and organizations from 43 countries.
The ECFA Award
The ECFA Award was first presented in 2011. It is the only European award for children's film given by film professionals. By awarding the ECFA prize, the organization pays special attention to quality films for young audiences and attracts attention to European children's films.
Every year, a number of European film festivals for children and young people host an ECFA jury, which selects the best ECFA film from their program offering. They then compete for the ECFA Grand Prix, which is announced during the Berlinale. The winner is decided by all 150 members of the ECFA. In 2020, a record 18 festivals hosted the ECFA jury.
ECFA and Zlín Film Festival
The Zlín Film Festival is a long-term member of ECFA and since 2012 it has hosted a jury of ECFA members, which awards its prizes here. At first, this award was for a live-acted feature film, but since 2018, documentaries have also been evaluated in Zlín. The first ECFA award for the best European documentary went to Marián Polák's Czech film Wilder than Wilderness (Planeta Česko).
The festival's program organizers also regularly participate in ECFA juries at foreign festivals. Jaroslava Hynštová, for example, was a member of the ECFA pilot jury in 2010 at the French Ciné-Jeune festival in Saint-Quentin.
More at www.zlinfest.cz and www.ecfaweb.org.
